Rusty guns

[Hannibal]

Just learn to appreciate a gun with honest wear. I buy used cars and guns because then I don't have to feel so bad when I put scratches on em.

Agreed. That's why I said unless you're fine with the way it looks.

[Hannibal]

I’m pretty sure that this Remington m12 has assumed club or rebar grade


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Someone on here would try to fix it.

[Texas by God]

Here are some after pics.
I couldn't decide if I should draw file the sides of the action as the pitting was rather deep. I guess I should get it back out and file them out, couldn't hurt.






I drilled out the barrel and installed a liner.
Found missing parts on Ebay.
cycles very smooth and shoots fairly well.

Now it’s a shooter again. Way to go!
I’d leave the pits if they’re too deep and probably paint the degreased steel to prevent more rust.
And shoot the snot out of it- gotta break that liner in.


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[Sandspider500]

Sandspider, what is your tube made of? I've used PVC pipe, but it sags from the heat in use. I do think it's absolutely the best bluing method. I heat the parts some before putting them in the pipe. That way, there is no condensation to cause runs in the bluing.

It's ABS cellular core. I think abs melts at 190-270 degrees. It has been run for hours getting 6-7 cycles. No droop yet. The toilet flange is also abs.

[waksupi]

Sandspider, what is your tube made of? I've used PVC pipe, but it sags from the heat in use. I do think it's absolutely the best bluing method. I heat the parts some before putting them in the pipe. That way, there is no condensation to cause runs in the bluing.

I used to use heavy wall PVC, but after around 7-8 bluing jobs, they began to sag and not stand properly. I went to using some sections of stove pipe. A single 36" piece and an 18" section to handle any length barrel I'm liable to blue. With the pipe, I can set it directly in the pot to boil, rather than using the flange.

[rintinglen]

Some of us have more money than time: others more time than money. Some of us confuse time spent doing what we like to time spent making money. I'm retired, put in category A. I like restoring broken or neglected guns. If you do, or if you don't, either is fine by me. But do not belittle someone else for spending his time differently than you do. There is no right or wrong to this one.

Unless you are looking to make a living restoring rusty, barn guns. That dog won't hunt.

[Kestrel4k]

My fathers' Arisaka 99 he brought back from Japan occupation duty.
During winter storage (AK storage cabin/shed), an adjacent container of water purification chemical broke open & wasn't noticed.

He considered it a wall-hanger, but just for kicks /many/ years later I detail-stripped it down to every part & worked it over with the Big45 rust removal pads.







It had a chrome-lined bore, so that was perfect at least. :-/

One solid winter day, about 10 hours; worth it IMO for a part of his personal history though.

[K43]

Wonderful work shown in this thread.

[deltaenterprizes]

rusty guns are better than nightly sitting in chair watching reruns.

Amen!

[Texas by God]

This sad 511 Remington took some work to bring it back to “Shooter Grade”- but it was worth it. It spent 30 some odd years in the back floorboard of a farm truck in Wisconsin.
It shoots as well as my 510 above it- and that is Very Well.


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[Hi-Lux Optics]

Particularly since if the outside finish is bad, the bore probably resembles something from WW1 that wasn't cared for given the price.

My only counter to this is - I once acquired a very old shotgun (1870s). The outside looked like it had been left in a barn (because it was), and the stock was cracked all the way through. The bore, though, had been protected by a dense network of cobwebs. Aside from some mild pitting near the muzzle, the bore was as shiny and beautiful as any new gun.

[Hannibal]

I should have clarified it better. I was speaking to restoring a firearm to 95% or better condition.

That trip is NOT worth the price of admission to me.

[xtriggerman]

Yeah, it can be pricey to restore a gun but there are sentimental guns that may be worth any price to some for restoration and like mentioned, the purchase price is a huge factor. Here are some that got stored in the attic in a hard case foamed inner. They belonged to a criminal investigator that got shot to death by a mafia hit man useing a Ruger 10/22 with 10 rounds rapid fire threw a window as the cop was interviewing the killers wife in the living room. Years latter the cop's wife brought them down from the attic since her son had grown up old enough to want to see his dads guns. The pitting was crazy deep. I refinished the guns to fair effect and made them shootable again (early 90's). Good guns get abused every minute of the day. Like rust, ignorance is every where.

[CastingFool]

This sad 511 Remington took some work to bring it back to “Shooter Grade”- but it was worth it. It spent 30 some odd years in the back floorboard of a farm truck in Wisconsin.
It shoots as well as my 510 above it- and that is Very Well.


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I recognized it as a Remington 500 something immediately. I have a 512, my first 22 rimfire. Nice job!

[pietro]

Just a friendly word of advice. Anytime you see a rusty firearm, run the opposite direction unless you're completely fine with it's appearance as-is.

You'll wind-up spending 5x more money and time than you anticipated and something won't look quite right when your finished, anyway.

FWIW, I've refinished several rusty firearms (long & short), spending only chump change & elbow grease - but then, I have several decades of experience of doing so (which may not be the case with some folks).

I long ago chose self restoration, simply because (being newly married & 3 kids to support) I didn't have the funds for a better firearm, or gunsmith fees) - so, I taught myself by trial/error on how to succeed at it.

.

[Hannibal]

I'd post photos of a few I've done but I'm unwilling to go through the image hosting hassle.
I'll just say I've done about 10 all together and I won't be doing any more. Just rather spend my time on other projects.
Currently I'm concentrating on from-scratch single shot projects. I simply find it more rewarding.

[mac60]

Yeah, it can be pricey to restore a gun but there are sentimental guns that may be worth any price to some for restoration and like mentioned, the purchase price is a huge factor. Here are some that got stored in the attic in a hard case foamed inner. They belonged to a criminal investigator that got shot to death by a mafia hit man useing a Ruger 10/22 with 10 rounds rapid fire threw a window as the cop was interviewing the killers wife in the living room. Years latter the cop's wife brought them down from the attic since her son had grown up old enough to want to see his dads guns. The pitting was crazy deep. I refinished the guns to fair effect and made them shootable again (early 90's). Good guns get abused every minute of the day. Like rust, ignorance is every where.

That's some good stuff right there!

[trooperdan]

I was in a hurry and only read half of the posts here so I hope I am not duplicating someone's post. Big Fifty Metal Cleaner is the best thing I've found to remove rust without damaging bluing AT ALL!. It is some king of stainless steel that is very soft and safe for bluing, looks like a copper choir boy in silver. Better than steel wool, doesn't leave all those little steel crumbs around.

[K43]

I was in a hurry and only read half of the posts here so I hope I am not duplicating someone's post. Big Fifty Metal Cleaner is the best thing I've found to remove rust without damaging bluing AT ALL!. It is some king of stainless steel that is very soft and safe for bluing, looks like a copper choir boy in silver. Better than steel wool, doesn't leave all those little steel crumbs around.

Thank you for the tip. Been following this because I acquired a rusty flat spring Colt Trooper with adjustable sites etc. Kind of a service grade Python they made in the '60s. The bore and chambers are perfect so must have been greased, but the outside is kind of splotchy, actually very spotchy. I've been following this thread to see if I want to try rust bluing it.
Though some here seem to think this should be cut up and go to the dump, I believe it is worth reconditioning.

[xtriggerman]

Thank you for the tip. Been following this because I acquired a rusty flat spring Colt Trooper with adjustable sites etc. Kind of a service grade Python they made in the '60s. The bore and chambers are perfect so must have been greased, but the outside is kind of splotchy, actually very spotchy. I've been following this thread to see if I want to try rust bluing it.
Though some here seem to think this should be cut up and go to the dump, I believe it is worth reconditioning.

Heres my suggestion to the folks that are not trained to some degree in resurfacing gun steel yet want to "clean up" a handgun with splochy pitting that realy hurts the appearance. Providing you have access to a sandblaster, Disassemble the gun into its basic parts. Get some black beauty (coarse) blasting material and a bag of regular clean play sand or mason's sand. Use the black beauty on the surfaces first with extra attention to the pitted areas. this stuff will really tear into the pitting and get to most of its deepest pitting. Then go over the gun with play sad on about 110 psi. This will soften up the course surface the beauty put on everything. If you want a smoother surface, glass beads would do that with high pressure and some time going over the metal with patience (MUST use a respirator filtered mask). At either stage, I like using 44-40 instant blue. It takes very well on sand blasted surfaces. Put a good coating on the de greased metal and let it sit untill you see the gun start to rust brown. Then go over the gun rubbing it out with WD 40 and alot of paper towels. The reason I suggest this is most folks just have no idea on how to sand down gun flats or what most do is wash out the screw holes via buffing wheel and lettering that absolutely destroys the gun in any ones eyes. The method I suggest has little if any damage to these ares as long as you take care with the blasting capabilities. In gunsmithing school we students learned how time intensive it was to do factory surfacing on gun steel by hand as well as up to mirror blue finishes. Proper technique with the right custom cut sanding equipment is not anything you get out of a book. Hense the cost of a "correct" reblue job.